​The dad-of-two claim​s an officer wearing gloves carried out a cavity search of his body. ​

Police later charged him with four offences, of which is he was​ ​acquitted after a trial.​

Mr Ponting, who owns computer shops, has now launched a civil claim against Lancashire Constabulary.​

​Mr Ponting said that he ha​d been the victim of an online hate campaign, and made a number of complaints to the police, but became upset when officers told him that the force had decided not to prosecute the suspect. It was this argument that led to his arrest at home.

​Lancashire police said in a statement: “Mr Ponting was arrested on June 18, 2014, and charged with offences of assault with intent to resist arrest, harassment, sending an offensive/obscene or menacing message and a public order offence. He was bailed to appear at Ormskirk Magistrates’ Court and was subsequently acquitted of all charges.

​“​There is currently a civil claim lodged with the constabulary in relation to this matter and it would therefore be inapprop-riate to comment any further at this stage.​“​​ ​

Mr Ponting said he had naturally become annoyed when two officers ​had gone to ​his house and told ​him they were not pursuing the case against the man ​he held responsible for the hate campaign. ​He and his wife, Anna,​ ​had exchanged words with the ​officers.

“We were stood at the top of my drive, when I might have swore. I turned away from them to walk back into my house, when one of the officers grabbed me.

“They then started dragging me across the road to a pub car park where the police van was parked. I was pepper sprayed in the face, and dragged along the pavement, suffering cuts to my body. At one point they were on top of me, although one officer was more aggressive than the other.

“This ordeal happened in front of my two children, who watched from the window.” Mr Ponting​ said that when he​ arrived at Skelmersdale police station, he was annoyed with the arresting officers​ ​and demanded to see a doctor. ​He was then put in a cell and stripped. ​He claimed that at one point ​one ​of the four officers had his hands round ​his throat and ​ ​called ​him names.

“Afte​r​ they stripped me naked, I started to experience chest pains. I thought I was going to die in a filthy prison cell, so they agreed to call an ambulance for me.​”

​Mr Ponting said that when he eventually saw the CCTV of the incident, he was shocked.

Paul Ponting at his Ormskirk home

​He added: “You can hear the officers asking the man behind the desk if they should ‘suit’ me and he says ‘yeah.’ That is slang for stripping a prisoner.​“​

​He was taken to Wigan hospital, where staff checked his heart and treated his injuries. The hospital’s report read: “On examination​,​ multiple bruises and superficial lacerations to the limbs. Swollen left lateral hand border. Normal cardiovascular respiratory and abdominal examinations. Superficially tender to the chest area.”

He said: “Following his arrest, which was for a minor disturbance outside his home address, Paul was taken to Skelmersdale Police Station where he was forcibly strip searched by four officers, and left naked and humiliated in a cell.

“This assault upon my client was wholly unjustified; it is highly unusual for suspects to be strip searched in police custody and there could, in my opinion, have been no reasonable basis for believing that such action was necessary in Paul’s case.”